genie

At this point, there are so many potential sources of bird to human or mammal to human transmission, the H5N1 genie is out of the bottle.

"When it comes to social justice, you can't put the genie back in the bottle," Lily Burana, author of "Grace for Amateurs," told me.

Long: Being able to grant wishes like a genie, but I grant wishes to people who don’t even know I’m listening, sort of like a magical guardian ghost.

“My people call them djinn, but I believe humans refer to them as genies.”

It may be hard to push the genie back into the bottle, however.